It’s just a small update today and yes – you guessed correctly – it involves new people employed in our building.

Please welcome Simon Gerges and Lee Jackson to the Playtonic fold! You can do so with either a nice comment below this article, or by applauding directly in front of your viewing screen.

Simon (left) and Lee join the Yooka revolution.

Simon is an experienced engineer who has worked on the Banjo-Kazooie, Kameo and Kinect Sports series of games, as well as last year’s Rare Replay compilation. Fun fact: Simon was originally hired 12 years ago by Playtonic co-founder Chris Sutherland. Fun fact #2: I once saw him in a pub and took him to a chicken shop afterwards.

QA manager Lee’s testing CV includes Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, the Viva Piñata series and Xbox platform projects such as Avatars and the New Xbox Experience. His day-to-day now includes sending us angry emails about the bugs we’ve made, and ensuring that our final game is as polished as can be.

Both Simon and Lee have jumped straight into the Yooka-Laylee medley and are already doing stellar work.

Simon says (ahem): “I have fond memories of working alongside many of the Playtonic team members on the Kameo and Banjo-Kazooie series, and I’m very happy to be back with them again.”

Jackson jabbers: “I’ve worked with some of the Playtonic guys before in my past role, so it’s exciting to have the opportunity to be working with them again. Honestly, it’s a dream come true to be working on a game like Yooka-Laylee with such an amazing team.”